Survivors
by JessieRose
Summary: (One Shot) Hogwarts has fallen after the Final Battle. Remus and Dumbledore search amongst the debris, but will they find any survivors?


Disclaimer ~ I don't own HP.  
  
A/N Just a one-shot. Hogwarts has fallen after the Final Battle. Remus and Dumbledore search amongst the debris, but will they find any survivors? I cried whilst I wrote this.  
  
Survivors.  
  
They searched amongst the debris, the rubble, and the wreckage. The stones were heavy, and hard to move. But their determination fed their strength. The group worked tirelessly into the night, the moon providing their only light. It shone high above them, lighting up the black sky. There were no stars, they had all burnt out.  
  
The battle had been long and hard. The Death Eaters stormed the castle in the early hours of the morning. And now, as night settled, there was not a movement, silence prevailed. They searched amongst the debris, the rubble and the wreckage.  
  
Remus Lupin tugged at the rocks in front of him, and as the dust settled, it revealed the broken bodies of his comrades, those he had fought side by side with only hours before. He kneeled down beside them, moving the rest of the stones, trying to stop the tears blurring his vision. A hand rested on his shoulder, he looked up.  
  
"Dumbledore." He said, miserably.  
  
The old Wizard sighed. "Come we must search for the survivors."  
  
"There are none." Remus whispered, he bit his lip, as his hand stroked the cold, dead face of Tonks. She looked peaceful, and at rest. She had done her duty.  
  
Dumbledore pulled Remus up from the ground. Together they surveyed the sight that met their eyes. Where once a great castle had stood, now a pile of bricks, and earth resided. The grand school had fallen.  
  
Dumbledore sighed heavily, as he glanced upon his school, or where it had once stood proudly, defiantly.  
  
The search for the survivors continued around them, as the witches and wizards, pulled up the stones, shouted names, and cried their way through the wreckage. For many of them it was too much, they collapsed into grief at the sight of the dead, of the crushed and broken.  
  
Eventually Remus pulled himself together. "We must find Harry." He said. He joined the search once more, Dumbledore by his side.  
  
"Harry!" He shouted. "Harry! Ron!" He tried to stop the quivering in his voice, the winds ripped past him from the forest, causing him to shiver. Night reached its peak, and the moon's light was not enough to search by.  
  
One by one, the witches and wizards gave up. They walked slowly and sullenly to the destroyed town of Hogsmede, eager to get home to their families. But Remus did not leave with them. He had nowhere to go.  
  
"Why do the good die?" He asked Dumbledore, as they unearthed the body of Minerva McGonagall.  
  
Albus Dumbledore lay his hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry I could not save you." He muttered.  
  
The two shifted the rubble through the night, and into the next morning, greeted warmly by the sun. They had discovered many of their friends, dead. But had still not found Harry.  
  
"There are no survivors." Remus repeated.  
  
They never found the bodies of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Witness statements said they walked into Voldemort, and died together, fighting. Fighting, together.  
  
There was a beautiful memorial service for the lost, which every witch and wizard attended. Mrs Weasley was crying silently, numbly for her son. She just wanted to hold him in her empty arms. She had failed to protect him. "He was so young, he did not have chance to live." Ginny stood next to here, grasping her hand tightly. The pain stabbed her heart as Ron's name was read out.  
  
"Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger. . ."  
  
Others cried around her, for their parents, their children, their friends. With each name called, another started to cry. The list seemed endless, it went on for pages.  
  
"Oliver Wood, Katie Bell, Madam Rosmerta, Arabella Figg, Luna Lovegood. . ."  
  
The Minister read it with such a lack of emotion, he could have been reading a class register.  
  
"Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom, Rubeus Hagrid, Arthur Weasley, Severus Snape. . ."  
  
Dumbledore stepped forward to give his speech. "We are all grieving, every single one of us has lost someone dear. Our victory is no victory at all, for our loss is greater then what we have gained. But our friends and family are not gone." He said, shaking his head. "They will live forever in our hearts. For them, there is no more pain or hurt, they are safe, cradled forever in our love."  
  
Hogwarts was never rebuilt. It was left an empty gaping hole in the countryside, the grave to the thousands that had given their lives. A monument to celebrating their death. It was true, not a single one would ever be forgotten.  
  
"You're with Sirius now, Harry." Remus said. "And Tonks, tell her I love her, I never got a chance whilst she was alive. You're with them all now, Harry. Reunited with your parents."  
  
In the history of the wizarding world, no battle had been so bad as the War of Voldemort, and none that followed would steal so many people.  
  
"Goodbye." He whispered, as he turned away from the debris that still littered the grass. He didn't look back as he headed towards Hogsmede, the moon guiding him on his way. He hated being right. That fruitless night of searching had unearthed no survivors. He walked and walked, but he had no where to go. 


End file.
